History Main / NostalgicMusicBox

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': One of the few items that Lestat de Lioncourt had brought over from France is an ornate music box which carries a lot of sentimental value for him. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQLRbpN3r0 The tune it plays]] was written by Lestat and it's dedicated to his FirstLove Nicolas.

* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'': Mister Freeze has turned an alarm clock, a glass jar, and an ice sculpture of his wife into an impromptu music box. He stares intently at it turn, but can only manage a single tear (that quickly freezes and sublimates given his [[IncrediblyLamePun icy]] demeanor).

The opposite of OminousMusicBoxTune when the tune sounds much more sinister...though the two dovetail into each other quite often.

->''And the musical box continues to turn,''\\
''The candle in the window continues to burn,''\\
''But I know they're just memories''\\
''Like Christmas Past and You and Me''
-->-- "Music Box Blues," '''Music/TransSiberianOrchestra'''

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' has two. The first episode, "Asteroid Blues", opens with a music box track titled ''Memory''. The two-part episode "Jupiter Jazz" features a music box as a plot point. The track used for the melody is ''Space Lion (organ version)''.

* During many ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'' childhood flashbacks (most notably Hiruzen's), a music box rendition of Tenten's theme plays.

* In the 1978 movie ''Anime/RingingBell'', Chirin finishes crying over his mother's death, he starts to angrily march out of the sheep stable and heads to the mountain that Woe resides. A [[DarkReprise music box variation of the film's theme song is heard complete with military style drums]] while Chirin is marching out of the stable.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'': The final rendition of the Eight Melodies, just before [[spoiler:entering Magicant]].

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGyZwr8pIas Lumas' theme]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Bonus points for being played ''[[spoiler:[[SoundtrackDissonance as the universe is crushed into a supermassive black hole.]]]]''

* ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'':

* A music box version of the Shadowlord's theme plays in ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'' when the Shadowlord is on his final bit of health. It's meant to represent how at this point [[DespairEventHorizon he just wants to die]].

* One or two of the minigames present outside the main adventure of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64 DS'' (such as the LovesMeNot game) have a music box arrangment of the water level theme from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros the original game]] play in the background.

->''And the musical box continues to turn,''
->''The candle in the window continues to burn,''
->''But I know they're just memories''
->''Like Christmas Past and You and Me''

* ''Anime/LostUniverse'' tends to feature a music box whenever the main character talks or thinks about his past.

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' has a nostalgic music box, Millerna has a flashback montage to it.

* ''Manga/SailorMoon''; there's a music box locket in the first season of the anime. This was inspired by a similarly shaped watch from the manga.

* Aaeru in ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'' has a [[RuleOfCool wind-powered]] music box given to her by her grandfather. The music it plays is actually a flashback on a cultural scale, though, as "The Door To A New World" is a song passed down from the earliest generations of Simoun sibyllae.
* Nadja Applefield from ''Anime/AshitaNoNadja'' has one of these among her {{Memento Mac Guffin}}s. [[spoiler:It was made as a gift for her MissingMom, then pawned away in Paris, and almost casually reached her.]] It later becomes ''very'' important, [[spoiler:when we find a certain music sheet inside of it...]]

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECVb4SA4hhs "If I Were a Bird"]], which plays whenever Rolo's locket opens, as a symbol of his happy times with Lelouch. It also plays in full force [[spoiler: during his HeroicSacrifice.]]
* This is featured in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Russia's character song starts out with a slightly eerie music box melody.
* When alone, Suitengu of ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' obsessively plays a music box with a melancholic tune and thinks about his past. This ultimately leads to a flashback indicating [[TragicKeepsake this is the only possession left from his happy childhood]], [[DarkAndTroubledPast which was destroyed]] by [[LoanShark loan sharks]]. Making things interesting, Saiga, the hero, independently whistles the same tune, foreshadowing the fact there's a connection between himself and Suitengu.
* In ''Anime/FullMoon'', Mitsuki learns of a song her father's band once performed called "Eternal Snow"[[note]] the show's 3rd ending theme[[/note]]. When she learns more about her mom and dad, among other things she finds a music box that plays the song's melody. From this point, the music box is played in almost every episode.
* In ''Manga/MidoriDays'', Midori has a music box on her bedside table where her real body is laying. Its melody is heard once or twice coming from the box itself when her mother opens it, but the rest of the time the melody is used in Midori's flashbacks.
* Candy White Andree from ''Manga/CandyCandy'' gets one from her friend Alistair, nicknamed "the Box of Happiness". [[spoiler:It becomes a TragicKeepsake when Alistair dies in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.]]
* The ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' anime has a heartbreaking music box reprise of its main theme, Gate of Steiner, played in the later episodes as Okabe tries to restore the innocence of the lab's early days before everything went to hell. [[spoiler: More specifically, it echoes his memories of Mayuri.]]
* In ''Anime/LadyJewelpet'', Lillian finds a music box and its music makes her feel sad, but she doesn't understand why. It turns out to be because [[spoiler:Lillian was a doll, and both her and the music box belonged to Diana, who cherished them both.]]
* In ''Manga/TheRowsOfCherryTrees'', Yukiko's late father gave her one and [[DaddysGirl she]] often plays it to remember him.
* The movie adaptation of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' features a TitleThemeDrop of "Innocent Starter" when Nanoha resolves to become friends with Fate. It's rather appropriate if one is familiar with the song's lyrics.

* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin.'' Mister Freeze has turned an alarm clock, a glass jar, and an ice sculpture of his wife into an impromptu music box. He stares intently at it turn, but can only manage a single tear (that quickly freezes and sublimates given his [[IncrediblyLamePun icy]] demeanor).

* ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'' - film version, has a music box that plays Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9, #2 in E flat major. Emmeline says "That's Chopin! I can play it on the piano." It's used by the kids growing up as a connection with/nostalgic reminder of their life before the island. Sometimes they dance to it. None of this is in the book.

* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Rousseau has a broken music box that Sayid fixes for her. It reminds her of her husband and lost child after she's been alone on the island for sixteen years.

* ''VisualNovel/SymphonicRain'' has several music box versions of the opening and ending theme playing during especially poignant moments.
* The ''VisualNovel/MuvLuv'' series of visual novels has ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnfMvYIHJt8 A World To Protect]]'', a rearrangement of the main theme. It first plays in ''Unlimited'' when [[spoiler:Takeru realizes that his memories of his home world and Sumika are fading due to him "going native"]], it then plays in ''Alternative'' when [[spoiler:Takeru, suffering from PTSD, breaks down and cries in Marimo's lap while the latter comforts him.]]
* The track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjeo-JpBdnI Ewige Wiederkunft]] from ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' features a lonely music box and is usually reserved for scenes of reminiscence or sadness.
* In ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', this is the present you get for Lilly. [[spoiler:It and its tune become a two-frame ChekhovsGun in Lilly's Good End]].
* ''VisualNovel/{{Doukyusei}}'' uses one such track, titled "Graduation", as its main menu music. This is quite fitting, since ''Dōkyūsei'' is fundamentally a story that plays on nostalgia for summer vacations back in one's youth, as well as the game itself being a remake of a classic game that many players would probably have fond memories of.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E19LisasSubstitute Lisa's Substitute]]" when Homer opens a music box to provide background music while talking to Lisa about loss.

* ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' plays a music box version of "[[https://youtu.be/dYpYQHb-ZKg?t=4560 The Fire is Gone]]" whenever [[PlayerCharacter V1]] reads a Testament at the end of a SecretLevel.

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'', one of these plays during TheReveal. In this case, the music isn't the symbolic part, it's [[spoiler:the Elysian Box itself, which finally fulfills its original purpose of carrying a message from Anton to Sophia and back. Of course, it's less on the nostalgia and more on the what could've been.]] The music box track, Iris, is used a few minutes later in orchestrated form for the end credits.
** In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'', another music box tune plays when [[spoiler: Henry remembers the time when he and Randall first became friends]].

* A music box version of N's {{Leitmotif}} plays in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' when you discover his bedroom/playroom in Plasma Castle. It doubles as an OminousMusicBoxTune.
** N's theme itself was allegedly based on the idea of a music box, reflecting his nature as an ManChild. It doubles as an OminousMusicBoxTune.

* A music box version of the smooth jazz song featured in one scene appears in ''Anime/GhostInTheShell 2: Innocence''.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': One of the few items that Lestat de Lioncourt had brought over from France is an ornate music box which carries a lot of sentimental value for him. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQLRbpN3r0 The tune it plays]] was written by Lestat and it's dedicated to a young man he once loved.

* The Total Results screen after the credits of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' has a pretty nostalgic music box version of "Pillow Talk" playing in the background.

* The final results screen after the credits of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' has one of these playing, and it's very pretty.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' - The final rendition of the Eight Melodies, just before [[spoiler:entering Magicant]].
** In the prequel, you learn the first part of the game's version of the Eight Melodies from a music box that was in the possessed doll you just fought. Also, the ending tune starts and ends with a music box rendition of the Eight Melodies.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' has an opening theme that sounds as though it is being played on a music box (it even slows down at one point, and has to be rewound). This theme reappears in ''Yoshi's Island DS,'' and is the best song on the soundtrack, despite being played in a different key.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' features this in both ''The Thousand-Year Door'' and ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' with specifically designated "Memory" themes that used a music-box-like effect when a particularly sad event was happening.
* Speaking of Mario, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGyZwr8pIas Lumas' theme]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Bonus points for being played ''[[spoiler:[[SoundtrackDissonance as the universe is crushed into a supermassive black hole.]]]]''

** Same with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''.
** All four ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games as well, although this was left out from the American releases of the first two.

-->--"Music Box Blues," '''Music/TransSiberianOrchestra'''

->''"The music box is broken, or is it? It starts to play, and a haunting tune fills the air..."''
-->-- '''Spike Spiegel''', ''Anime/CowboyBebop''

* The final results screen after the credits of VideoGame/DevilMayCry has one of these playing, and it's very pretty.

* When alone, Suitengu of ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' obsessively plays a music box with a melancholic tune and thinks about his past. This ultimately leads to a flashback indicating [[TragicKeepsake this is the only possession left from his happy childhood]], [[DakrAndTroubledPast which was destroyed]] by [[LoanShark loan sharks]]. Making things interesting, Saiga, the hero, independently whistles the same tune, foreshadowing the fact there's a connection between himself and Suitengu.

* {{Theatre/Anastasia}}, like the movie it's adapted from, features the OrphansPlotTrinket music box given to the title character as a child; [[AdaptationExpansion the entire score was expanded or re-written to make the score more fitting for a fully fledged stage musical]] but not only did the music box's theme stay the same, it became a {{Leitmotif}} that reoccurred several times and in several songs throughout the show.

** ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'''s nostalgic theme is eventually expanded upon in at least one of the endings, in a song called "To Good Friends" - it starts off identically, but eventually segues into a fully-orchestrated arrangement of the same theme, and it is beautiful.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' - The Laguna flashbacks involving Ellone and her daughter.

* This is featured in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia''. Russia's character song starts out with a slightly eerie music box melody.

The opposite of OminousMusicBoxTune when the tune sounds much more sinister...

*** A much more tear-jerking music box is played during [[spoiler:Emperor Jillius' DisneyDeath.]]